When considering design specifications for a projectile such as a bullet, the target to be impacted by the bullet must be considered. For example, design specifications of a bullet for sport, such as target practice, would be different from design specifications for a bullet used by the military, police and/or for wildlife harvest. Moreover, each category listed can have different concerns and influences that alter or differentiate design considerations and specifications of a bullet, for example, consider wildlife harvest. The different physiologies of various wildlife species warrant different design specifications for a bullet to ensure consistent and repeated incapacitation of the animal for harvest. That is, bullets designed for harvesting large and/or thick-skinned animals such as elephants, rhinos and buffalo warrant different design considerations to incapacitate the animal than bullets designed for harvesting medium-sized and/or thin-skinned animals such as elk, moose and bear. Still further, bullets designed for harvesting small-sized animals such as deer, antelope and sheep warrant different engineering considerations to incapacitate the animal than bullets designed for large- and medium-sized animals, and including thick-skinned animals.
The design of a bullet for wildlife harvest warrants design considerations for a bullet that consistently incapacitates the animal quickly, humanely and with permanence. If an animal is not incapacitated quickly and/or permanently, the animal routinely recovers sufficiently to run from the location of bullet impact and is routinely lost. In fact, the Idaho Fish and Game Department published statistical data that stated for every one hundred (100) big game animals shot by legal hunters, fifty (50) of the animals were lost and never found. Accordingly, conventional bullet designs for wildlife harvest fail to consistently incapacitate the animal quickly and permanently to sufficiently enable capture of the animal.
Conventional bullet designs are single unit projectiles wherein at least two parameters are routinely varied to optimize killing power. The velocity of the bullet can be increased to optimize the penetration capability of the bullet into the animal. Furthermore, the expansion of the diameter of the bullet upon impact with the animal can be increased to optimize impact capabilities of the bullet. However, varying one parameter to optimize killing power ultimately affects the other capability detrimentally. For example, a conventional bullet designed to optimize velocity and penetration will routinely decrease the diameter expansion capability of the bullet. Conversely, a conventional bullet designed to increase diameter expansion capabilities will routinely decrease the penetration capabilities of the bullet. Conventional bullet designs routinely do not optimize both goals in the same bullet design.
Consequently, there is a need to improve bullet designs for wildlife harvest to consistently incapacitate the animals quickly, humanely and permanently allowing for capture and harvest. Furthermore, there is a need to design bullets capable of consistently incapacitating the various wildlife species having different physiologies using a single bullet design. Still further, there is a need to design a bullet that optimizes expansion capabilities and penetration capabilities in a single bullet design.